The Form of Nerve Cells: Determination by Cobalt Impregnation

Abstract

Form and function are perhaps more closely related in neurons than in any other cell type. A major approach to understanding the cellular events underlying behavior concentrates on relatively simple invertebrate systems that give rise to specific behavioral acts. The general procedure followed is (1) to identify the individual neurons that generate the behavior, and (2) to analyze the particular pattern of connections between neurons to determine the properties of the circuit that might directly govern the form of the behavioral act. Initial studies dealt primarily with identification of nerve cell bodies because of their relative accessibility. This led to the production of neuron soma maps for several invertebrates (Hughes and Tauc, 1962; Otsuka et al., 1967; Nicholls and Baylor, 1968). One such cell body map for the cockroach is shown in Fig. 1 (Cohen and Jacklet, 1967). The distribution of about 50 bilateral pairs of motoneurons is defined in relation to the nerve trunks through which their axons leave the ganglion.

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